


zero rate

by MiniNephthys



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Angst, End of Part 1 Spoilers, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 13:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17346410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: Ritsuka tries to summon someone.  It's not Merlin.





	zero rate

Ritsuka throws another Summon Ticket in. Craft Essence.

She shouldn’t be using this machine right now, she knows. Magi from the Clock Tower are already on their way to investigate what happened here, and most of her existing Servants have been dismissed for the time being. She shouldn’t be summoning more of them.

But she’d begged Da Vinci to let her use it. She’d gotten a few years worth of allowance from her family and it was killing her not to spend any of it, she’d said. It wasn’t a lie, but it also wasn’t the real reason. …She thinks Da Vinci knew, but she still allowed her to go ahead and summon.

She throws her tickets in in an almost robotic rhythm. Craft Essence. An Assassin she’s summoned a hundred times who shatters into prisms as quickly as they’d appeared. Craft Essence.

The gold sparks that accompany a powerful Servant get her attention - the Caster class card more so. She holds her breath as the Servant takes shape, white hair spills out over their shoulders-

Merlin smiles at her. “Greetings, Master of Chaldea.”

She’s already tuned him out, and throws another ticket in. Craft Essence.

“It’s polite to listen to someone when you summon them, you know…!” He huffs. “A lot of Masters would break their banks to summon me!”

Ritsuka doesn’t even look up as he speaks. Another ticket, another Craft Essence.

“Hmmph. I’ll go cause trouble somewhere else, then. Let’s see, Mash should be gullible enough to trick, or maybe I’ll just charm her…”

Craft Essence. Saber she’s already summoned. Craft Essence.

Despite his threat of tormenting Mash, he doesn’t leave. She can feel him continuing to watch her throw ticket after ticket in, without moving or looking at him for ten minutes.

Quietly, he says, “You won’t summon Solomon no matter how many times you try.”

Her head snaps up. “There has to be a way. He’s a Heroic Spirit, so-”

“He erased himself from the Throne of Heroes. He isn’t there for you to call.” His voice is gentle, for him; it only makes his blunt words more painful. “You should know that.”

Of course she knows this. Of course she understands what ‘erased from the Throne’ means. Of course she realizes what Dr. Roman sacrificed for the world, for Chaldea, for her.

But that doesn’t mean she’s ready to accept it.

“But… but this is a stupid world where we break the rules all the time, and we summon people who never really existed, and nothing makes sense to me even while I’m doing it,” her voice breaks, “so there has to be some way…!”

“If he was there,” Merlin says, eyes closed, “you would only have needed one ticket for him to come home to you.”

She cries. There in the summoning room with a Caster who wouldn’t know how to comfort someone if his life depended on it, she sobs out tears she’s been holding in for days.

It doesn’t help. But it’s something she needed anyway.


End file.
